Never had / heard of this request before.. baby shower pictures

[ceejtank]

So I was asked to shoot a baby shower party for 70-80 people. I know what i charge for maternity shoots, I know what I charge for 'party' shoots. Not sure how to classify this. I didn't know this was a thing even to be honest.

I know you guys generally won't give a dollar amount for.. but what methodology would you work out for pricing?

Here's what I'm thinking / what I'm looking for.. for weddings I charge a certain amount per hour based on a what package you select. For parties I do the same thing. Would this just fall into the party category do you think? Just looking for a little advice on what guidelines you would use to price this event... let me know your thoughts of have any questions..

it's a 4 hour party with 70-80 people if that helps your thought process at all.

 

[tirediron]

All my rates break down to an hourly rate; so depending on what they want as a product, I would multiply my hourly rate by four and add in the anticipated processing time.

 

[ceejtank]

Great advice. Thinking that's what I'm going to do, but just wasn't sure if that was the case for these types of shoots since I had never heard of them before.

Thanks for the reply.

Anyone else - feel free to weigh in still, I'd be curious to any differing methods.

 

[vintagesnaps]

I think this seems to fall into the party/event category, it's just a baby shower instead of a birthday party. And this is one big shower! the ones I've been to usually involve going out for happy hour (of course we enjoy the adult beverages on behalf of the mom to be).

I don't do these, not photographing them anyway, so can't help on the pricing but you could try ASMP's site for resources on pricing etc. Have fun and get good pictures of them diapering things or whatever if they still do games, if you're lucky they'll just eat drink and get merry.

 

[Steve5D]

Have you ever been to a baby shower?

It's a party. Price it as such...

 

[Derrel]

Have you ever been to a baby shower?

It's a party. Price it as such...

Yes, it's a party. But with games played with rolls of toilet paper, and lengths of yarn, and lots of silly games, and a lengthy gift-opening and "Ohhhh!" and "Ahhh!" session filled with lots of expressions like, "Ohhhh, how cuuuuute!" and "Adooooooorable!" comments.

 

[sm4him]

I'm sure they DO still play the dorky little games at many of them. In the past few years, the ones I've attended have been--thankfully--sans games. Just eat, talk and open presents. And open more presents. And still more presents.
Most of the ones I attend have somewhere between 10-60 people.

Since they are opting to PAY for a photographer for this, MY guess is that they WILL be playing some of the silly (I'd go so far as to say "insipid" but I was just never a fan of the stupid party games) games, so I'd be prepared for that if I were you.

I did the photography for one back in September, but I was doing it as a favor, not for pay. Lots of close-ups of presents and food, groups of guests, and pics of bride-to-be and husband-to-be together and with various friends and family members. Then pictures of opening the presents. ENDLESS pics of opening presents. It became VERY "same ole, same ole" after a while, but you never know what the BRIDE is going to want to look back on and remember, so I just shot her opening and displaying as many presents as possible. This one was a pretty large attendance, probably toward the 50-60 range, plus quite a few "drop offs" who came by to leave a present but didn't stay for the shower.

 

[ceejtank]

Thanks for all the tips. I will keep it in mind.

And no - as a guy - I've never been to a baby shower.

 

[CMfromIL]

Thanks for all the tips. I will keep it in mind.

And no - as a guy - I've never been to a baby shower.

There is a reason for this. As a father of 3, I'VE never been to a baby shower. It's a secret that no man knows what happens. My friend...you know what happens to male black widows don't you? Make sure you take note of all exits, and watch your back.

And it's a party. Price it as such.